Obama gives broccoli a presidential thumbs-up, and politics break out

Forget red states, blue states. The hottest new division in the culture wars is between broccoli chewers and eschewers.

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Famously banished from the White House by President George H. W. Bush, broccoli made it back to the big time Tuesday when President Barack Obama gave it his full endorsement.

Obama, appearing at a “Kids State Dinner” at the White House, let slip to an intrepid young journalist that broccoli is his favorite food.

The dinner was really a lunch and was given by First Lady Michelle Obama to honor 54 children who’d won a national healthy-lunch-recipe contest.

Obama said he hadn’t always liked broccoli. Vegetables were not something that he looked forward to when he was little. “My family, when they cooked vegetables, they would just boil them,and they’d get all soft and mushy,” Obama said.

“But now I actually like vegetables, because they’re prepared right,” he explained.

Washington’s Twitter-ati erupted in broccoli discussion. At first there were recipes …

This is a good broccoli recipe, in case you’re interested in trying this hot new foodstuff: http://t.co/SzYYqWDde3

But soon is was just another old-fashion Washington hate-fest, with conservatives suggesting Obama was lying. Broccoli is nobody’s favorite food, said one. Many posted pictures of Obama eating ice cream and other sinful treats. Democrats rushed to defend the president.

The folks at Green Giant, a division of General Mills, said they believed Obama.